Seth Klarman'
s Profile & Performance

Profile

Seth Klarman is a value investor and Portfolio Manager of the investment partnership The Baupost Group. Founded in 1983, The Baupost Group now manages $7 billion, and has averaged returns of nearly 20% annually since their inception. Seth Klarman is the author of the book "Margin of Safety" which sells for over $1000. Mr. Klarman attended Cornell University where he received a degree in economics, and later attended Harvard University where he earned an M.B.A.

Investing Philosophy

Seth Klarman invests in a wide array of investments ranging from fairly traditional value stocks to more esoteric investments like distressed debt, liquidations, and foreign equities or bonds. Klarman doesn't mind "doing nothing" on occasion. He is completely unperturbed by the idea of sitting on the sidelines holding cash whenever investment opportunities are scarce. In fact, in 2005 and 2006, nearly half of his portfolio was held in cash. Investing, he cautions, is more than just producing absolute returns. Too often investors focus on that one easy number "return" and ignore the risks incurred to generate that number.

Top Ranked Articles

Seth A. Klarman, President of The Baupost Group, averaged about 20% per year for 24 years with only one negative year. This digest of Seth A. Klarman’s investment strategies and practices is mainly based on a guest lecture by superinvestor Seth Klarman at Columbia Business School and his book, Margin of Safety. Many sections here are not Klarman’s exact words, but our digest of the distilled essence of his investment methods. Read more...

Charlie Rose Interviews Seth Klarman. The first 18 minutes is about "Facing History", his nonprofit organizaiton. Then they got to the book of "Margin of Safety". Klarman's view of Warren Buffett's three stages of investing: "Warren evolves three stages". He said he is still in the first stage. Read more...

Amitabh Singhi is managing director at Surefin Investments, an India-based portfolio management and investment advisory company. Since inception in mid-2001 the fund has returned 27.9% annualized, net of all fees to investors (as of 2011). Mr. Singhi graduated with a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, with concentrations in finance and management. Amitabh was one of the speakers at the last Value Investing Congress in New York. Read more...

Baupost Group the $28 billion hedge fund has shown through 13-F filing that it is bullish on biopharmaceutical and pharmaceuticals, and energy companies as well. The firm reported that its equity portfolio has a market value of nearly $5.9 billion for the fourth quarter. Throughout the firms history its has return on average 20% thanks to its president legendary value investor Seth Klarman (Trades, Portfolio). In the Baupost Group end of year letter to investors Seth klarman said that the firm has identified opportunities in the energy after the crashing of crude oil prices. More...

I was watching a congressional hearing last week on climate change, and a congressman asked one of the scientists testifying, "but you have to admit if you took the 10 hottest days out of your analysis your thesis falls apart". The scientist replied, "Well, Congressman, I suppose if pigs could fly we could call them airplanes ... but they don't. As scientists we don't have the luxury of taking the 10 hottest days in recorded history off budget. They happened. They are real. And we simply can't deny they happened." More...

Seth Klarman (Trades, Portfolio) has increased his stake in Cheniere Energy Inc. (LNG), a Houston-based energy company dealing in liquefied natural gas, making it his new largest holding, according to GuruFocus Real Time Picks. More...

Seth Klarman (Trades, Portfolio) is perhaps one of the most direct writers and teachers when laying out his thoughts and techniques on investing. I have become fascinated by the following extracts from Margin of Safety, which are both illustrating and to the point. More...

The shares of insurance software provide EBIX (EBIX) jumped more than 30% to $21 a share in the last three trading days on large volumes. We believe that the stock is still undervalued and it has at least 25% upside potential. More...

The way most investors buy stock is no better than the strategy most use in playing craps in Las Vegas. Even if the stock market has averaged near 9% over the decades, the average investor performs much worse. As with every casino where the house is the real winner, securities firms usually come out of a crisis unscathed.More...

Seth Klarman (Trades, Portfolio) is an investor from America who founded the Baupost Group. The Baupost Goup is a private investment partnership and hedge fund. The Baupost Group has made over 20% annualized gains over the past three decades. Seth Klarman (Trades, Portfolio) is known for being the author of a book on value investing called Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor. More...

Over the past 15 years, we’ve had the privilege of managing our investment partners’ portfolios. During that time we have made mistakes that ranged from mild to significant impact on the portfolio. In this week’s article I wanted to share some of these mistakes, the reasons we made them and how we’ve changed to decrease the chances of making such a mistake again. More...

AbbVie (ABBV) is a major drug manufacturer with a $107 billion market cap. The company manufactures and markets Humira, Creon, and other pharmaceutical treatments in the U.S. AbbVie was spun-off from Abbott Laboratories (ABT) in January 2013. The company is a Dividend Aristocrat because it shares Abbott Laboratories’ long dividend history and has paid increasing dividends since the spin-off. AbbVie is the subject of part 45 of the Dividend Aristocrats In Focus series. The company’s business is analyzed below to give a clearer picture of AbbVie’s operations. More...

We can thank Benjamin Graham for coming up with the value investing philosophy, which is when an investor buys a stock at less than the intrinsic value. Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) also adopted this philosophy, but that's no surprise since he was Graham's pupil. More...

A shared trait that great investors have is their will to teach and share their knowledge. Just like in the Bible, sometimes they teach in parables, as these examples tend to stick longer in our heads. More...

Add Notes, Comments

User Comments

DrK,
I'm glad someone is following the finer details!
I agree, re- Seth Klarman (Trades, Portfolio) average price bought and sold , indeed would have made a loss on eg. Alere Inc.
The manor in which the data is presented anchors readers thoughts to a large gain of 70% rather than losses of circa 20-25%.
Current stock price does not equate to the value of the stock when sold!
This is a red herring data column and should be scrapped unless a true reflection of profit or loss on holdings is shown on both free and professional formats!
Great website although be careful of drawing false conclusions!

The way you show "Gains" in the holding history of a guru makes absolutely no sense - you are calculating it as "price paid" vs. "current stock price". This is NOT the gain mthe Guru made, and can HIDE actual losses. Example: Seth Klarman (Trades, Portfolio) the way you calcute gain made more than 20% gain for the stock Alere Inc. (ALR) because you are comparing his price paid to the current stock price rather than to the price he sold out for. In reality he made a LOSS when selling it. THIS MUST BE CORRECTED - your information is misleading!

Why is your most recent performance data from 2001 - it's now 2014! How are we (and you) to rate Klarman when the most recent GuruFocus performance data is 13 years old? For all we know, his track record over the last 13 years could be 5% lower than the SP-500 index and yet he's listed as a Guru.

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